


I Got a Little Fight

by brilligspoons



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-10
Updated: 2011-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-23 15:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/251773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilligspoons/pseuds/brilligspoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which they’re not mutants, they’re all in college and in a band, kind of. Erik doesn’t know whether to rue or celebrate the day he met Raven Xavier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Got a Little Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **animesque** for the **erik_charles Summer Fic Exchange** on LJ. Prompt was: any AU where they meet and fall in love and live happily ever after. Mutant powers/the rest of the cast included in would be a wonderful bonus. (Wants to see: happily ever after, fluff, angst, UST, BAMF!Erik, first kisses, jealous!Erik, oblivious!Charles.)
> 
> Thanks to **pocky_slash** and **darthjamtart** for looking it over!

Erik meets Raven Xavier on a rainy Tuesday in the middle of October. He remembers it distinctly because he had just left his physics professor’s office in a blind rage and hadn’t noticed the pretty blonde girl carrying four mugs of hot liquid until they were both sprawled on the ground and gasping in pain. (Later, Erik will say it’s hard to forget third degree burns on one’s hands, and Raven will glare at him and say it’s hard to forget assholes who don’t pay attention to where they’re going and ruin one’s favorite blue sweatshirt. Erik will concede this point every time, mostly because he is a learning creature and knows Raven doesn’t pull her punches.)

“Jesus _christ_ ,” he says. “The fuck is your problem?”

“ _My_ problem?” the girl asks. “What is _my_ \- oh, don’t even start with me, buddy, do you even know how hard it is to get coffee stains off clothing?”

“No, but I’m going to find out later when I have to wash mine,” Erik replies, shaking his hands dry.

“You’re wearing all black, genius.”

“Whatever,” he says. And then he picks himself up and stalks away. Erik hears the girl muttering something unpleasant behind him, but he can’t be bothered. He has a million pages (okay, _fifty_ , but that’s still a lot) of physics to catch up on from the days he was sick last week, and there won’t be an extension for his midterm project. Erik fumes over this through calculus and the bullshit composition course he’s forced to take for gen-ed requirements, and as he’s storming down the sidewalk toward the student union, he slams into the same blonde girl from before.

“I am going to kick your ass,” she tells him as she stands back up again. “Not only is my sweatshirt ruined forever, now my ass is sopping wet and muddy, and it is all your fucking fault.”

“It’s not even that great a sweatshirt,” Erik says.

“And my _hair_ , you douche.”

Erik bites back the gut reaction to insult her more and sighs. “Okay, okay,” he says, “follow me.” He grabs her arm and pulls her along behind him.

“This is kind of the opposite direction I should be going in,” she says.

“Like I care,” he replies. “Erik Lehnsherr, by the way.”

She snorts. “Raven Xavier. Not that I really want to make your acquaintance after the day I’ve had.”

Erik drags her inside the student union and sits her down at an empty table. He grabs two cups of coffee and a handful of creamers and sugar packets, pays for them, and then makes his way back to Raven. She has her arms crossed, and one of her legs is bouncing impatiently. Erik sets one of the coffees down in front of her.

“Sorry,” he says gruffly.

“Oh, now you’re sorry?” Raven snaps at him. “That’s really helpful, thank you.” She grabs a few of the sugars and adds them to her coffee. She takes a long sip, considers, then nods approvingly. “So,” she says, “what put the bee in your bonnet?”

“Excuse me?” Erik asks.

“You’re, like, all dark and brooding and angry,” she says, “and maybe that’s your natural state or something, but you look like you have something to get off your chest.”

“No, not really,” he says. “Just the regular frustrating school shit.”

Raven nods. “Right,” she says. She stands and adjusts her wet clothing, grimacing a little as she moves away from her chair.

“I just have a lot going on at once,” Erik continues, “and last week I was incredibly sick.” Raven rolls her eyes and sits back down. “So I’ve been bogged down with make-up work, and no one’s willing to give me extensions. I’ve never been late on a single paper, and you think that would create some level of trust with the professors, but you’d be wrong.”

“It happens,” Raven says.

“And somewhere along the line, my bastard roommates decided that my drum kit had to go, and they moved it out into the hall, and now there’s nowhere to put it,” Erik finishes. “I live in constant fear of going back to my dorm only to find it gone.”

“Hold the front door,” Raven says. “You play drums?”

“I’m glad that’s what you got out of my complaint,” Erik replies, “and yes, I do. Reasonably well, if I say so myself.”

Raven starts rooting around in her bag and produces a pen and a scrap of paper. She scribbles something on it and hands it to him. “Here,” she says. “Be at this address at this time, bring the kit. If you work out, you’ll have a place to store your kit.” She gathers her things and stands up again.

“Wait,” Erik says.

“It’s an audition,” she tells him, heading off the obvious question in his mind. “I’m in a band. We need a drummer who knows a snare from a hi-hat and, preferably, can play them, too.”

“You seem a little desperate.”

“You like to state the obvious,” Raven notes. “And now I’m ridiculously late for a lecture, thanks for the coffee, fuck you for ruining all my clothes, and I’ll see you tonight. Don’t be late. I _will_ hunt you down if you are.”

And then she’s off, and Erik has no idea what just happened. Still - the prospect of being in a band again, something Erik hasn’t done since high school, is pretty awesome, and kind of exactly what he needs right now. He figures showing up and playing for a little while can’t hurt, and he _had_ already planned on playing the shit out of his kit tonight anyway. It’s an ill-advised move, of course, considering the amount of work he has to get done in a short amount of time, and yet - “Alright,” he mutters under his breath. “Better make sure it’s still in the hallway.”

***

His drum kit is still there that evening, miraculously, though Erik is starting to suspect he’s left some kind of psychic imprint on it warding everyone off. That’s really the only explanation, he thinks, considering the type of people who live on his floor. Regardless, Erik checks and double-checks all of his cases before dragging them all down the stairs and placing them in the trunk of his rundown station wagon.

The directions Erik had printed off at the library earlier take him to a slightly nicer section of town than he’s used to traveling in. The house he finally stops at is, well - it’s _fancy_ , or fancier than Erik expected, too. He wonders how, in this neighborhood, a band of any kind gets away with practicing - but then the garage door opens, and Raven is motioning for him to park in the driveway rather than the street like he’d planned on doing. Erik pulls up, puts the car in park, and gets out.

“Good, good, you’re on time,” she says. “Want some help?”

“Uh, yeah, that’d be good,” replies Erik, and together they manage to carry a good portion of his kit inside and down a flight of stairs into a finished basement. Three other people, two guys and another girl, are lying in a triangle formation on the floor. Erik eyes them and starts to gauge how quickly he can evacuate if things get _weird_.

“Stop bullshitting,” Raven wheezes at them as she sets the bass drum down. “Alex, Sean, go grab the rest of the kit from Erik’s car. Don’t forget to close the trunk when you’re done.”

The two boys (Erik resists the urge to call them babies, but they can’t be that far out of high school, jesus) jump up and run to do her bidding. Erik, despite himself, is impressed but not surprised that Raven apparently has them trained well. The girl sits up and folds her legs in.

“Angel,” she says. “I’m the singer. Raven told us you were good.”

“Raven’s never met me before this morning,” Erik says.

“Mostly I told them that to get the other two to stop complaining all the goddamn time about finding a drummer,” says Raven.

“This isn’t an audition, is it,” Erik says. “You intend to press-gang me into being your drummer out of revenge for ruining your clothes.”

“And my hair,” Raven says.

“I don’t even know what kind of music you guys play,” Erik tells her. “How do you know I’ll even be into it?”

Angel lays back down on the floor and closes her eyes. “It’s good,” she says. “Sometimes, I mean. We need a drummer. Raven let our last one leave.”

“Hank left of his own volition,” Raven states primly. “He’s writing his thesis and needs time to concentrate on that.”

“And I don’t have a million things to do for my own classes?” Erik mutters. Raven shoots him a glare.

“You need an outlet that isn’t running into girls and knocking them down,” she says.

“I can’t even believe you right now,” replies Erik.

Angel giggles from the floor. Alex and Sean clamber back down the stairs with the rest of Erik’s things. Raven points at the red-head and says, “This one’s Sean, the other is Alex. Sean’s on bass, Alex plays backup guitar on some of the heavier songs and keyboard on the lighter ones. I,” she waves her hand, “am the lead guitarist.”

“Okay,” Erik says. “So, uh.”

“We should play something for him,” Alex says. “While he gets set up or whatever.”

Raven claps her hands together once. “Good idea,” she says. “Which song?”

Erik takes the opportunity to unpack and tune his drums while the four of them bicker about which song would be a better example of “them as serious musicians.” He feels unspeakably old as he listens in to their argument with half an ear, though he’s probably not one or two years older than they are.

Behind him, a bass suddenly hums into life, followed by two guitars. The music starts out slow and builds up, and by the time Erik has finished adjusting the last cymbal, Angel has opened her mouth and begun belting out a verse in a surprisingly smokey voice. Erik barely hears the words, instead paying attention to the guitars and bass playing off each other, the underlying rhythm seemingly pushing and pulling at the melody. It’s - well, it’s _good_ , not great, but Erik feels a little thrill of excitement run down his spine as Angel moves into the chorus. He begins tapping out a line on his thighs during the second verse, touches the cymbals once or twice in the breath between it and the chorus, and is hesitantly beating along in time with them when the bridge starts.

The song ends. There’s a long stretch of silence, and Erik opens his mouth to break it, when someone else in the room clears their throat. Erik whips his head around, startled by the sound. His breath catches.

“That was lovely,” says the stranger.

“It was okay,” Raven says. “We’ll get better.”

“Of course you will. You’re brilliant, all of you are.” The man practically beams at her. Raven rolls her eyes in response.

“Erik, this is my brother, Charles,” she says. Charles turns the full force of his smile on Erik, who momentarily forgets that he needs air to continue living.

“Hello,” Charles says.

“Hello,” Erik croaks back. Someone (probably Angel, and Erik is going to glare at her later, maybe when he regains his senses) giggles. “Uh, nice to meet you.” He holds out his hand, and Charles takes it. Erik waits a moment, and then another, and then another after that, but he really doesn’t want to let go of Charles’ hand, and Charles doesn’t seem all too eager to let go either if Erik is reading his face correctly, so...

“Right,” Raven says testily. “If the two of you are done making eyes at each other.”

Charles flushes, and Erik feels his own face heat up as well. They let go of each other. Charles backs up to the stairs.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says. “I just - you sounded really good, and I wanted to let you know that, so, uh.” He waves a hand awkwardly in the air above his head. “I’m just going to go back to my coursework now. Nice to meet you, Erik.” And then Charles bolts up the stairs, shutting the basement door behind him. Erik finds this ridiculously _charming_.

“Ugh,” Alex says, “we’ve lost another one to the Charles Xavier fan club.”

“I don’t get the crazy stalker vibe from this one, though,” says Sean.

“That’s a first,” Angel says.

“What?” asks Erik. He tears his eyes away from the door to the stairs. Raven levels a hard stare at him.

“Nothing,” she says. “Let’s play some more music. Erik, whatever you were doing, keep doing it. You’re in.”

Since Erik, having only known Raven for maybe 8 hours, gets the impression that this quick acceptance of strangers doesn’t happen with her very often, he merely nods and motions for them to play the song again.

***

Erik doesn’t get the chance to see Charles again for five whole weeks. He tries to broach the topic with Raven one night at practice and is summarily shut down, much to the amusement of the other band members.

“You’re seriously telling me I’m not allowed to talk to your brother?” he asks.

“I’m seriously telling you I will break both your arms and knee you in the balls if you try,” she replies with a sickeningly sweet smile. Erik glares at her. “No, really. _Try me,_ buddy.”

“Dude, you’re going about it the wrong way,” Alex informs him once Raven has disappeared upstairs to grab more water. “You need to be stealthy when it comes to Charles, otherwise Raven takes you down.”

“Yeah, I got that,” grumbles Erik. “So where do I find Charles outside of this house?” Sean, Alex, and Angel shrug in unison. Erik sighs. “Great. You’re really helpful.”

“He goes to the same school you do,” Angel says. “If that helps.”

“Oh, one student in 50,000, he’ll be easy to find.”

“It’s called a student directory, jerk,” she replies. “Learn how to use one.”

***

Despite Raven’s determination to prevent him from seeing her brother, he runs into Charles on campus a few days later - literally, even, which convinces Erik that the science department is haunted by something that has it out for him specifically.

“Hello,” Charles says from where he’s sandwiched between the wall and Erik’s body.

“Hi,” replies Erik. He mentally cringes when his voice comes out all high-pitched and squeaky. “Uh, hi.”

Charles laughs. “You said that already,” he says.

“I - so I did,” Erik says, wincing. “Uh, well, I should -”

“You can say it as many times as you like, of course,” Charles tells him quickly, and his face flushes a little. “I just, well, I -”

 _He’s blushing,_ Erik thinks. “Oh my god, you’re adorable.”

“What?” says Charles.

“Shit,” Erik says, “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“Obviously,” Charles replies, “but I definitely don’t mind.”

It’s then that Erik realizes he’s still holding Charles against the wall and feels his own face heat up in embarrassment. “Sorry,” he says, backing up so that Charles has room to move again. “I don’t usually make a habit of, well, that, or saying things, or -” He stops talking (and thinking, and breathing, for that matter) as Charles gives him the same smile he had weeks and weeks ago. Erik tries to say something else, but all the comes out is a slightly undignified whimper. _Smooth, Lehnsherr, jesus._

“It’s very much okay,” Charles says. “I don’t suppose you’re not busy at the moment?”

Erik has two papers and about a billion equations to solve and another four chapters of reading to complete by tomorrow morning, but what he says is, “No, I’m completely free. Coffee?”

***

Raven storms into their practice space the following evening and thrusts sheets of paper at each of them. “New song,” she growls.

“Uh, wow,” Alex says. “These lyrics are - well -”

“This is some sappy shit,” Sean finishes for him. “Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but I might get a fucking cavity from playing this, I am just saying.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what I have for you,” Raven says. “Objections, Angel?” Angel shakes her head. Raven turns around and gives Erik a nasty look. “What about you? Anything to say for yourself?”

Erik reads over the lyrics and accompanying musical notations briefly. It _is_ utterly sappy and ridiculous, he’ll give Sean that, but there’s something sweet and heartwarming about them as well. He wonders why Raven seems so angry about them. “Nope,” he says, shrugging. “I think they’re good, actually.”

Raven stares at him for a moment, and just when the weight of it on him starts to get uncomfortable, she seems to shake it off. “Right,” she says. “Warm ups, then we’ll figure this one out.”

Erik has been around the band long enough to be surprised when Raven steps back from the creative process and lets him, Sean, Angel, and Alex work things out for the most part. She offers up a word or two on the subject of the melody, and then later hides in a corner with Alex to sort out the guitar and keyboard parts.

“We all know our stuff,” Angel tells him when he mentions it as they’re packing up for the night. “Raven takes care of the business side of things, yeah, but we’ve all got solid music backgrounds.”

“ _Especially_ Angel,” Sean says. “She’s a fucking - what’s it called again? Mozzo?”

“Mezzo soprano, jerk,” she says, smacking him on the arm. “Classically trained, all that shit. It’s what I’m studying in school.”

Erik is a little ashamed that he hasn’t asked about their majors before, but both Angel and Sean roll their eyes at him.

“You’ve been busy pining over Charles, we get it,” says Sean. “The time for relating is after you get your man.”

“I hope,” Raven’s voice carries over to them from across the room, “that no one here is talking about my brother and romance at the same time. That wouldn’t end well for that person.”

“Nope,” Angel says.

“Never,” agrees Sean.

Erik sighs and waves goodbye to them.

***

“So why does Raven not want me to date you?” Erik asks. They’re walking across campus to the parking lot, and Charles has his fingers tangled with Erik’s.

Charles wrinkles his nose. “My last boyfriend was kind of an asshole,” he says. He smiles when Erik’s hold tightens. “He wasn’t too awful, just selfish and stuck-up. Raven _hated_ him - he’s still at the top of her hit list, if I recall - and has taken it upon herself to protect my virtue ever since.”

“The fact that she _has_ a hit list doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Erik says.

“I think you made it recently, too,” says Charles.

“Also not surprising, though I wonder at how I’ve lasted this long in the band if that’s the case.”

“So it’s nothing personal, I’m sure, but you might want to watch your back.” They reach Charles’ car. Charles steps in a little closer to Erik and says, “But, I mean, if you need someone to _help_ watch your back, I’m _more_ than willing to do so.”

“I’d take you up on that, but I think your reasons for offering aren’t as innocent as you make them sound,” Erik teases him.

“I like your back,” Charles says in mock indignation. “It’s a very nice back.”

And just as Erik leans in to kiss Charles, someone behind them makes a strangled, angry noise. Erik closes his eyes. “Tell me that’s not your sister,” he says.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” Charles replies.

***

“For whatever reason,” Raven says the next night right before band practice, “Charles thinks it’s a good idea to date you.”

Erik has the sinking feeling that she’s finally decided to snuff him. Raven’s holding a stack of papers (another new song, which makes four in total since Erik joined the band, each sappier and more romantic than the next - _what’s up with that?_ he wonders), and she could easily paper cut him to death. He wishes the others would hurry up and get there already, just so he wouldn’t have to be alone when he dies. _Angel likes me,_ he thinks. _She’d be sad to see me go, at least._ Erik sits down at his drum kit and tries not to look like he’s deliberately putting obstacles in Raven’s path.

For a moment, Erik is sure Raven is about to jump over the drums and strangle him, but she falls silent for a moment, then sighs heavily. “Listen,” she says. “Whatever he’s told you about his ex, that’s not the whole story. Charles downplays how much of a fucking asshole that guy was, but he was - he was really _hurt_ , okay? And I’ll be damned if I let that happen to him again.” Raven turns her glare back up to eleven. “So back the fuck off.”

Erik is about to tell her he’ll back the fuck off when _Charles_ tells him to, but Alex comes crashing down the stairs, laughing hysterically about something Sean just did with his bass strings. Raven shoots Erik one last warning look before she follows Alex outside to see the commotion.

He rubs at his face, then picks up his drumsticks and taps out an executioner’s march while he waits for the others to come inside.

***

“I think,” Charles says, “that we’re safe here. Maybe you could stop looking over your shoulder every five minutes and pay attention to our game?”

It’s winter break, and he and Charles have been huddled together for a few hours in a cafe near campus with steaming cups of coffee, Charles’ portable chess set resting in their laps. Nominally this is a _friendly get-together_ to celebrate Erik not failing any of his classes, despite his professors’ best efforts to the contrary, but Erik (very smoothly, he feels) had managed to slip his arm around Charles’ shoulders fairly early on.

Erik’s fear of Raven rushing in and breaking them apart won’t leave him alone, though.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says. “Uh. What was I doing?”

“You were losing spectacularly to me,” Charles says. Erik eyes the chessboard. “I have you right where I want you.”

“Of course you do,” replies Erik. And with that, he tilts his head down and kisses Charles full on the lips.

It’s - well, it’s _awkward_ to say the least, and there’s probably more tongue involved than is strictly necessary during a first kiss, but when they separate, Charles is looking at Erik like he’s just been handed everything he’s ever wanted in life. Erik panics a little, but then Charles surges up, knocking the board and pieces to the ground in the process, and seals their lips together again.

“I should probably tell Raven to get off your case,” Charles breathes against Erik’s lips.

Erik pulls him back in. “I’ll take care of it,” he says, and they stay like that until the cafe owner tells them they’re closing for the night.

***

The band has its first gig just after New Year’s, and they’ve collectively settled on a set list, but Raven shows up at the practice the night before it with yet another new song.

“Really?” Angel asks. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I can’t find it in myself to joke about this shit right now,” Raven says. “Come on, it’ll be fine.”

“This one’s about chess,” says Sean as reads over the lyrics. “I didn’t realize chess could be this dirty.”

Something in Erik’s brain locks into place. “Charles writes these, doesn’t he?” he blurts out.

“Duh,” Alex says. “Wait, you didn’t know that?”

 _Oh god, Charles writes these,_ Erik thinks, ignoring him.

“I’m not going to ask why Charles is using chess as a metaphor for sex,” Raven declares. “I don’t want to know anything about that.”

“We didn’t have sex,” Erik says. “Uh, wait, I mean -”

Raven tosses her copy of the new song at his head. “Don’t. Want. To know,” she grinds out. “Just tell me you’re not going to rip his heart out and trample all over it. Because if you do that, I’ll be forced to beat the shit out of you.”

“So Charles writes the lyrics,” Erik repeats. “And they’ve not-so-secretly been about me.”

“I think we’ve established this, Lehnsherr,” Raven says.

“Jesus christ,” Sean says. “He looks like he’s high or something. I think I need to go puke a rainbow.”

“Yeah, I’ll join you,” replies Alex. He takes hold of both Sean and Angel and pushes them up the stairs to the kitchen ahead of him, and then Erik is left alone with Raven.

“So -” he begins, but Raven waves a hand at him.

“Yes, Charles writes our songs, and all the new songs we’ve worked on since you joined are about you,” she admits. “Are you happy now?”

“ _Ecstatic_ ,” Erik says. Raven mock gags herself at him.

“Whatever, douche, save it for Charles.” Raven narrows her eyes at him. “Not that it’s cool that you’re doing stuff with him. Just so we’re clear on that. You may be a good drummer and not a total dick, but you are on thin fucking ice.”

“We haven’t ' _done stuff_ ,' jesus,” Erik says. “Not that it’s any of your business if we did.”

“Charles _is_ my business.”

“ _Charles_ is a big boy and can make his own decisions _and_ his own mistakes,” Erik tells her.

Raven opens her mouth to say something but shuts it with a loud click. “Fine,” she says after a moment. “You have a point there. But I’m allowed to be concerned.”

“As long as your concern doesn’t involve smothering me in my sleep or chaperoning our dates, I don’t fucking care,” says Erik. “And _no_ , Raven, that wasn’t an invitation to chaperone, stop thinking about it.”

“Like you could stop me,” she replies.

Erik concedes that this is completely true but refuses to admit that out loud. “So, one thing,” he continues. “If we’re done having this heart to heart bullshit.”

“Yeah, yeah, what is it?”

“Let me sing this song.”

Raven bursts out laughing. “Dude,” she says. “ _Dude_. I’ve heard you sing. You’re only about a step up from Sean, and that’s being generous. Fuck no, you’re not singing this.”

***

Erik taps on the mic and waves to the crowd of people as the feedback grabs their attention. Charles is sitting at the bar, has been cheering them along all night and making ridiculous faces at Erik at every possible moment, and Erik catches him looking confused as he steps from behind the drums and up to the front of the stage. The crowd has been amazing since they started up, and all in all the gig has gone much better than anticipated.

“Hey,” Erik says. He’s thrown for a moment, not used to hearing his voice amplified so much. “Hey. There’s one more song, okay?” He gets a rousing cheer at this. “But, uh, I’m gonna be singing this one. I suck at this, kind of a lot, but my boyfriend’s back there,” more cheers, and Charles is probably going to kill him later while Raven looks gleefully on, “and, well. Whatever, you get the idea.”

So Erik sings, and he knows it’s awful, but most of the people listening seem like they’re willing to indulge him just this once, so he keeps going. The song is kind of dirty in a geeky chess player kind of way, and it occurs to Erik as Raven strums the last chord that he still isn’t sure how Charles got into the whole song-writing thing. _I’ll ask him later,_ he thinks as everyone cheers and laughs at him.

Later, of course, is when Charles finds him after they’ve finished packing up and the bar is settling tabs for the night.

“I hear I’m your boyfriend now,” Charles says. He’s smiling, so Erik thinks he can’t be _too_ pissed about that.

“Like we haven’t been dating for two months now,” Erik replies. “I hear you have some ideas about me and chess.”

“Well,” Charles says.

“And also that you’ve _been writing love songs about me_ since we met,” Erik says.

“In my defense,” Charles tells him, “you’re amazing.”

“That’s disgustingly adorable,” Angel says. “Tell us more.”

“They really don’t have to,” says Raven. “In fact, they can save it for when they’re alone. Which will not be any time soon, because Erik is taking us out for pancakes.”

“It’s midnight,” Erik says in protest.

“Pancakes don’t care what time it is,” says Sean. “They’re easy like that.”

“I like pancakes,” Charles says. Erik twines their fingers together and grins.

“Forget it,” Raven says, “I’ll treat us to pancakes. I think I might break something if I’m forced to witness this horrific behavior for much longer.”

“That’s nice, dear,” Charles mumbles as he leans up and plants a kiss on Erik’s lips. Out of the corner of his eye, Erik sees Raven violently rolling her eyes. He waves them away.

“Go,” he says, drawing Charles in closer, “go have pancakes. Charles and I can, uh, take care of the instruments.”

He hears Sean whisper something about being worried for his bass but ignores the obvious dig in favor of more kissing. Raven sighs and ushers Sean, Alex, and Angel in the direction of a local 24-hour diner, leaving Erik and Charles standing under the soft light of a street lamp.

“We should probably go somewhere else,” Erik says. “Somewhere less, uh, exposed, or some shit like that.”

“I’ve always wanted to make out with someone in a car,” Charles says.

“Car. Car is good. Car is right here.”

Charles laughs at him and pulls him toward the station wagon.


End file.
